Finding aid encoded by Dennis Meissner
November 9, 2001Finding aid written inEnglishAugust 2008Converted from EAD Version 1.0 to Version 2002 by Monica Manny Ralston, Daniel Sher, and Joyce Chapman.
OVERVIEW
Minnesota Historical Society
East Side Neighborhood
Services, Inc. (Minneapolis, Minn.).North East Neighborhood
House records.1889-1961,
2002-2003.Records (1889-1961) of a Minneapolis
settlement house organized in 1914 in an area heavily populated by Slavic
immigrants, and of its predecessors, Immanuel Sunday School Mission and
Drummond Hall. The collection also includes six reminiscences (2002-2003) by
participants in a program for older community residents conducted by East Side
Neighborhood Services, the successor to the settlement house.15.5 cubic feet (38 boxes,
including 11 v.).See Detailed Description for shelf
locations.
HISTORY OF EAST SIDE NEIGHBORHOOD
SERVICES

The North East Neighborhood House is the successor to Immanuel Sunday
School Mission, an organization established by the Reverend Rueben A. Torrey,
pastor of the Open Door Congregational Church, during the 1880s. Between 1900
and 1914, the mission, renamed Drummond Hall, was supported by the Plymouth
Congregational Church and the Trinity Baptist Church. As a result of the influx
of immigrants from the Slavic countries, the Protestant mission found it
difficult to attract members, and the mission closed in 1914. In June 1913 the
board of directors of the Drummond Union Mission authorized a survey of
northeast Minneapolis to be conducted by the Associated Charities of
Minneapolis. The results of the survey, presented to the board in October 1913,
recommended that a nonsectarian and nonpartisan neighborhood house be erected
in the district. A group of influential people took up this recommendation. The
building housing Drummond Hall was remodeled; a head worker, Robbins Gilman,
was hired; and on January 20, 1915 the North East Neighborhood House was
formally opened at 1429 Second Street N.E. In a few years the activities of the
settlement had outgrown its temporary building, and in 1919 the North East
Neighborhood House was permanently located at 1929 Second Street N.E.

In 1963 the North East Neighborhood House merged with the Margaret
Barry House, a settlement in northeast Minneapolis founded in 1912 by the
Minneapolis Legaue of Catholic Women. This new organization, known as East Side
Neighborhood Service, reflected the organization's broadened mission of
providing services to the entire East Minneapolis community. By 2003, the
agency was known as East Side Neighborhood Services, Inc.

Historical information was taken from: Catheryne Cooke Gilman,
Neighbors United Through Social Settlement Services at
the North East Neighborhood House, Minneapolis; Alice O'Brien Lahiff,
Young at Sixty-five: A Chronicle of sixty-five years in
the life of the Minneapolis League of Catholic Women; and other sources.

SCOPE AND CONTENTS

The bulk of the collection consists of records of the North East
Neighborhood House. There is information on the administration of the house;
community service programs such as citizenship classes, nursery schools,
employment services, and clinics; responses to World Wars I and II and the
1930s depression; and relationships with such social service organizations as
the Minneapolis Council of Social Agencies, the National Federation of
Settlements, the Twin City Federation of Settlements, the Boy Scouts and Girl
Scouts, the YMCA and YWCA, and other youth groups.

The records of the Margaret Barry House are located at the Social
Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

An enamel painting (1931) by Maria Sophia Dolnycka has been
transferred to the Minnesota Historical Society museum collections. Dolnycka, a
young Ukranian artist who taught art to children and resided at the North East
Neighborhood House (1920s), sent the painting of the "Good Samaritan" to head
worker Robbins Gilman as a gift after she returned to Vienna. A letter (July
16, 1931) from Dolnycka that accompanied the painting is located in the
miscellaneous correspondence files.

The Robbins Gilman and family papers are in the Minnesota Historical
Society manuscript collections.

CATALOG HEADINGS

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

These boxes contain information on the history and development
of Immanuel Mission, Drummond Hall, and the North East Neighborhood House. Also
includes data on the district served by the settlement: population, economic
conditions, housing, national origins, religious affiliation, employment, and
facilities for education and medical treatment.

Directors' Files:

The papers of the board of directors include minutes and
reports, official correspondence, and board and committee membership lists.
Minutes and reports of annual and monthly meetings concern business matters and
general activities of the settlement.

The personnel records contain applications for employment and
volunteer work at the settlement house, along with information on duties,
qualifications, personnel standards, and employment practices. There is a
descriptive analysis of staff positions at the house. Minutes of staff
meetings, October 1944-April 1948, are included. There are also financial
records and audits of the Residents Boarding Fund, 1919-1936.

Monthly and annual reports concern House activities, financial
and equipment needs, and related matters. In some reports Gilman comments on
social conditions in Minneapolis.

The Head Worker's reports for 1915-1920 are primarily centered
upon the needs of the immigrant population in the district served by the
settlement house and of the staff, financial assistance, and facilities needed
by the house to carry on the program required by the neighborhood population.
Projects of particular interest during these early years are concerned with
medical treatment; English and citizenship classes for aliens; employment
problems; nursery school or day care for children of working mothers; working
conditions, especially those of immigrant girls working in restaurants and
hotels; establishment and operation of a kindergarten under the direction of
Stella L. Wood; prohibition; registration of aliens; registration of men for
military service; effects of World War I on the program and activities of the
settlement; need for new buildings; meetings of the National Conference of
Social Work; and the difficulty of allaying the fears and suspicions of a
predominately Catholic neighborhood in accepting the North East Neighborhood
House as a nonsectarian group.

Reports for 1930-1939 detail the effects of the depression on
the settlement house program and upon the people residing in the district; many
comments on the demands placed on the house as a result of unemployment,
inadequate incomes, and poor living conditions; and classes and assistance
offered by the settlement during the depression.

The 1940-1946 reports primarily concern the effect of World War
II on settlement house programs.

These boxes contain reports of the individual departments of the
settlement house. In general these reports contain the following information:
description of the program and activities, attendance records, regulations, and
objectives. Clinic Reports include records of child and adult clinics, infant
welfare, prenatal clinics, tuberculosis, and dental clinics. Correspondence
during prohibition relative to obtaining alcohol for medicinal purposes is also
included, as well as information on birth control. Some of the early clinic
reports also contain statistical records on attendance in the neighborhood
house kindergarten.

The purpose of this department was to develop constructive
relationships among organizations and individuals in order to achieve socially
desirable goals. This material is concerned with activities in the first ward
of Minneapolis. There are comments on the formation of a community council and
civilian defense activities during World War II.

P310Counseling and Placement, undated, 1916-1946.4 folders.

Includes lists of applicants for placement and comments on
labor markets, difficulty in obtaining employment, and methods of increasing
job potential. There is some information on classes that were conducted during
the depression to assist the unemployed to find jobs, especially training women
in efficient and modern methods of housekeeping. The effects of World War II on
the labor force are discussed. There are copies of bills, laws, and government
pamphlets regarding labor conditions and information on minimum wage laws,
labor unions, and similar issues.

Girls and Women, undated, 1925-1940.3 folders.

Records for 1940 include information on the American Youth
Congress, Minneapolis youth groups, the North East Peace Group, and United
States neutrality.

Personal Service department records include information on
personal service work in all Minneapolis settlement houses. Common problems and
services rendered by the department are: financial assistance, employment,
medical care, family maladjustment, clothing needs, mental disorders, legal
problems, and alien registration.

Inter-Department Exchange, 1937-1940.

The Interdepartmental Exchange was organized in October 1937
as a means of improving working relations between the various departments at
the North East Neighborhood House. Individual meetings of the Exchange study
problems and conditions of families belonging to the settlement house.

Statistical reports, 1924-1940.4 folders.

Reports include attendance data, number of persons served by the
house, and related data.

These boxes contain reports of meetings of clubs, classes, and
other organized groups at the North East Neighborhood House. All records of
meetings and activities of each group have been kept together and are filed in
chronological order under the date of the first meeting of the group.

Typescript reminiscences of World War I, outdoor band
concerts, helping out in a parents' store, family camping trips, cars owned, and
work and retirement by older East Minneapolis residents.

P337Edgar Whiting Guilford, Director of Community Relations,
"A Study of the Service Areas in the North East Neighborhood House,"
1942.P336Registration Book of Club Members, Class Members, and
House Members, 1915.1 volume (Vol. 3).Relations With Other AgenciesP322Minneapolis Council of Social Agencies:

These boxes contain correspondence, reports, and miscellaneous
papers dealing with the Minneapolis Council of Social Agencies, its policies,
and its relationship with the North East Neighborhood House and other
Minneapolis welfare agencies. Most of this material concerns the budget and
financial arrangements of the settlement house with the Council. Also included
are reports of committees and of surveys made by the Council; minutes of
meetings of the Council board of directors (1941-1944); a report and
information on the Children's Protective Society (July-Sept. 1943); juvenile
delinquency in Minneapolis (1940-1944); and the candidacy of Mrs. Kate Koon
Bovey for the annual award given by the Council (Nov. 1943-Feb. 1944).

Included are correspondence, bulletins, and miscellaneous papers
relating to the policies and programs of the National Federation of
Settlements. There is information on the following topics: settlement
activities in the United States, social problems and welfare programs, housing,
unemployment, medical care, and social legislation. Items of special interest
are: information and case studies to be used in a study of the social effects
of unemployment on various phases of settlement work and the relationship of
the settlement to the community (Feb. 1, 1929); a report on settlements in
Hungary (Dec. 5, 1937); and settlement activities in southern states (March
1938).

Correspondence, miscellaneous papers, and reports that relate to
the activities, programs, and policies of settlements on a local level. A copy
of "Self-Analysis Survey of Minneapolis Settlement Houses" (1934) is included.

Includes material concerning group work activities;
responsibility and duties of group leaders; determining interests of groups;
groups formed for special activities; qualifications of group workers; group
records; and the purpose and effect of group work. Correspondence and reports
concerned with various social workers' organizations (undated, 1928-1948) give
information on employment conditions and miscellaneous subjects of interest to
social workers.

Other social work organizations, undated, 1928-1948.Correspondence FilesP330Subject Files:Civil Works Administration, undated, 1933-1934.

Contains materials regarding CWA projects at the North East
Neighborhood House; copies of letters from CWA workers at the house to
President Franklin D. Roosevelt expressing gratitude for employment; and a list
of persons registered for work with the settlement house.

Includes information on public housing, correspondence of the
Minnesota Better Housing Association, and a survey of housing conditions and
the effect of increased prices on living standards (1947-1948).

Mostly copies of letters written by Robbins Gilman and other
staff members. Items of particular interest are: a list of families residing in
the North East Neighborhood House district and providing the numbers of years
residing in the city, the ward, and the neighborhood (1933-1934); social survey
of 20,000 families residing in the ten Minneapolis Settlement House Districts
(1934); clippings containing obituaries and memorial comments on Jane Addams
(1935); signature of Henry Morganthau, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury
(September 24, 1941), regarding the purchase of U.S. Savings Bonds; and letter
from Mayor Hubert H. Humphrey concerning the Minneapolis Youth Commission (May
28, 1948).

Contains newspaper clippings that relate to the youth welfare
and education programs at the House including infant health care, youth sports,
cooking classes, dance, and drama; flag day celebrations; building and
remodeling projects; Head Worker Robbins Gilman; and the Immanuel Mission.

Lantern slides, undated.4 glass plates.

Four glass plate lantern slides contain images of the House's
first day nursery (1915); a pupil with the House's piano teacher, Miss Boehme;
and Dr. John Ryan with his assistant and patient, Katharine Patrick, at the
first dental clinic in a Minneapolis settlement.

Photographs, undated, 1923, 1943.

Images of a Russian family that frequently visited the House
(1923); a women's basketball team; a Christmas portrait entitled "Yule Tide
Tea"; Head Worker Robbins Gilman; and a number of individuals in the military
(1940s).